State

General Robert Hoke of Civil War fame was born and reared in this Lincolnton home. General Hoke’s Old Home Mrs. Ken in's hope that some tiny this old house would be restored afford to build a new one. I pave up the idea of owning the hou-o, but I still loved it, and in the spring when nil the dormant trees came to life, my footsteps lagged when I passed it by and saw tho many timid plants spring to life from a planting of deondcs ago. About this time some now streets were laid out in the town. It was with a son so of real pain that I, one day, saw men cutting into that rolling lawn to make a cross street and lay the section off into a block. They left the old house standing forlorn, too near the street for its bulk: for all the world like a large man sitting in too small a chair. It was pathetic, and so it stood for another while. In the meantime a new family moved to town, the M. S. Bonnie. They were looking for an old home and finally bought my dream house. The day after the transaction of the sale of the house was complet'd, Mrs. Beam telephoned and insisted that we come over nnd explore their new pos¬ session with them. We spent a de¬ lightful evening in their new home. The old house was in truly sad state, but wonderful with all its large high ceiled rooms, its Gothic doorways, tinted panels and carved mahogany stairs. Planned to Move It to its former glory has at last boon fulfilled. Ki / LULL' C. BEAM THE old house is located on the edge of the historic littlo city of Lincolnton. For more than a hun¬ dred years it has stood thus; the very last of a row of houses. The casual passerby would probably say. “That might be a nice place to live in if it weren’t so run down nnd neglected looking.’’ but to me it has always been a dream house. My husband and I had lived in Lin¬ colnton two years when one day I sud¬ denly decided that I wanted that old house. It was one of those raw days that sometimes come with early win¬ ter. I was cold and I think my at¬ tention was first arrested by the thought that smoke coming out of that chimney would look friendly and warm. Anyway, the chimneys of that old house were what I first saw. They were so wide and substantial looking and gave one the impression of cheer¬ ful rooms where green logs burned on heavy firedogs. The house itself was in the shape of the letter H with two gables to the front. The chimneys rose out of the roof in the center, just back of those gables. The windows were wide and deep, with green shutters that hung at perilous angles and flapped loosely in the wind. A broad, inviting porch extended the full width of the hou-c and stood high off the ground. Lattice work was used for the underpinning. This lattice and the many steps that led down to the walk added an effect that was quaint and charming to say the least. At the back of the house was an apple orchard nnd an old barn. Roll¬ ing down from tho side of this, a hundred yards or more, was a ter¬ raced pasture land. A small stream ran through the pasture which was lined with rushes and willows and low elder bushes. Suddenly I wanted that old house. I wanted its peace, I wanted its roominess, ami I wanted its back¬ ground for my young children to grow up in. lint inv husband, who at that time was in the lumber busi¬ ness, said it would be far too expen¬ sive to restore it. We could better Beautiful as the old house was, the Beams decided it would be more de¬ sirable to move it farther back on the lot and to build a new one on its present site. So they rolled the house back, made it livable, and moved in. Several things happened that they had not reckoned upon. In the lire! place, when the old building was moved, the porch had to he torn down and the house stood as it was orig¬ inally built — a proud old home of architectural beauty and dignity. In the second place, it was impossible to live in those charming old rooms ami not imbidc something of their pence and grace of living. Thirdly, there was a rewriting of history in Lincoln County. Ля a WPA writer’s project, the history of famous old homes in Lincoln County was written, and for the first time, Mrs. Beam, a native of South Carolina, learned that she was living at the birthplace of North Car¬ olina’s famous son. General Robert Hoke. The charm and grace of that old place soon overpowered Mrs. Beam and she decided to keep it as her home. Gradually she began a collec¬ tion of things that would match the atmosphere of the house and do it honor. She never mentioned the build- (Continucd on page eighteen)